What's in a name? Lens Protocol swiftly rebrands scaling solution from Bonsai to Momoka
Quick Take
- The developers of Lens Protocol renamed their new scaling solution from Bonsai to Momoka — just a day after launch.
- The rebranding aims to prevent potential trademark issues with a similarly named project in the crypto space.
Aave Companies, developer of the web3 social network Lens Protocol, rebranded its newly launched scaling solution after discovering another blockchain project was already using the Bonsai name.
The team announced in a Twitter Spaces session yesterday that the product was now called Momoka, just a day after the initial launch.
Lens Protocol, a decentralized social graph offering a software stack to build alternatives to major social media platforms, was launched on Polygon in May 2022.
On Wednesday, the Lens team implemented a new blockchain solution aimed at scaling social media applications for the project. However, due to the presence of an existing project named Bonsai.xyz , the moniker was quickly changed to Momoka.
RISC Zero, a blockchain research and development firm, owns the Bonsai trademark. At the ETHDenver event earlier this year, RISC Zero announced Bonsai, which is a zero-knowledge-based protocol being developed to enhance the computational capacity of blockchains.
Lens Protocol's trademark concerns
A Lens Protocol representative said the swift transition to the alternative name, Momoka, was a proactive measure to avoid unnecessary brand complications in the future. They added that the effort was made to ensure the name wasn't trademarked, acting promptly upon realizing the pre-existing use of the name within the sector.
Lens Protocol aims to achieve censorship resistance for social media apps and help them unlock new forms of content monetization. To help such apps scale, Momoka will optimize cost and scalability by storing transactions off-chain in such a way as they remain accessible and verifiable. This can avoid the limitations of block space on Ethereum and other blockchains.
Momoka will process most transactions off-chain, relying on its data-availability layer. Data availability is essential for scaling solutions because it ensures that off-chain data remains accessible and verifiable when needed for on-chain settlement, dispute resolution or audits.
This article has been updated with information on the Bonsai trademark being owned by RISC Zero.
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